New look for Chain Reaction?

My first day back from Egypt and London (why do I say London and not England? We did spend a day in Salisbury/Stonehenge after all!) and I’ve brought back two possible new looks for Chain Reaction Bicycles.

The Cairo look?Or this? I wish! Flagship Theo Boss store in London

The first comes from the back streets of Cairo. I wouldn’t say this is exactly modern retailing, or at least not retail done to the latest standards. Like how Chain Reaction started out. Well, OK, we were never quite that rustic.

Next we go to London and visit the flagship Theo Boss store. High-zoot apparel doesn’t impress me, but their merchandising sure did! Bicycle retailers tend to think in terms of more options for customers, thinking you need everything anyone might ask about, which unfortunately creates a very cluttered environment. You may have more of what your customers would like, but you end up selling considerably less because it’s not well-displayed. It’s very difficult for a shop that’s been around as long as we have, accumulating as much as we have, to accept the idea that less is more. You want so much to have a variety of product, three different brands of gloves in five styles etc., but there’s no way you can do that much merchandise justice within the confines of a typical retail space.

Somewhere in-between the shop in Cairo and Theo Boss is probably a good place to be!